Neuroscience For Dummies

Introduction 1

Part 1: Introducing the Nervous System 5

Chapter 1: A Quick Trip through the Nervous System 7

Chapter 2: All about the Brain and Spinal Cord 23

Chapter 3: Understanding How Neurons Work 51

Part 2: Translating the Internal and External Worlds through Your Senses 69

Chapter 4: Feeling Your Way: The Skin Senses 71

Chapter 5: Looking at Vision 87

Chapter 6: Sounding Off: The Auditory System 109

Chapter 7: Odors and Taste 127

Part 3: Moving Right Along: Motor Systems 143

Chapter 8: Movement Basics 145

Chapter 9: Coordinating Things More: The Spinal Cord and Pathways 159

Chapter 10: Planning and Executing Actions 173

Chapter 11: Unconscious Actions with Big Implications 191

Part 4: Intelligence: The Thinking Brain and Consciousness 211

Chapter 12: Understanding Intelligence, Consciousness, and Emotions 213

Chapter 13: How the Brain Processes Thoughts 239

Chapter 14: The Executive Brain 259

Chapter 15: Learning and Memory 275

Chapter 16: Developing and Modifying Brain Circuits: Plasticity 299

Chapter 17: Neural Dysfunctions, Mental Illness, and Drugs That Affect the Brain 325

Part 5: The Part of Tens 339

Chapter 18: Ten (or So) Crucial Brain Structures 341

Chapter 19: Ten Tricks of Neurons That Make Them Do What They Do 349

Chapter 20: Ten Promising Treatments for the Future 357

Glossary 367

Index 383